Manti Te’o had no involvement in the bizarre hoax involving his “dead girlfriend,” the Notre Dame star linebacker insisted to ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap in his first interview since the story broke Wednesday.

Massachusetts’ U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Heymann must be held accountable for their actions during their prosecution of the late Internet activist Aaron Swartz; in China, a father hired online “assassins” to kill his son’s avatar in an attempt to save his real life; meanwhile, the U.S. is giving the Afghan government a fleet of drones. These discoveries and more after the jump.

The emotional and heartbreaking story about the beginning of college football star Manti Te’o's season is well known by now. On Sept. 12, Te’o's grandmother and girlfriend died within six hours of each other. Te’o said that the deaths helped inspire him to play better. The problem with the story: The girlfriend did not die. In fact, she wasn’t even real.

The University of Notre Dame, along with other Catholic groups, filed lawsuits Monday against the Obama administration over a federal mandate that requires most employers to provide free contraceptives as part of their health insurance plans for workers.

There were many messages sent from South Bend on Sunday. Obama’s opponents seek to reignite the culture wars. He doesn’t. They would reduce religious faith to a narrow set of issues. He refused to join them.

President Barack Obama attempted the impossible during his commencement speech at Notre Dame University in Indiana on Sunday: He asked those on both sides of the abortion debate to “join hands in common effort.”

In respect to tradition, one would expect Obama to deliver Notre Dame’s commencement address in May, but a crowd of Fighting Irish have decided to try to keep the new president away from the hallowed campus for fear that some of his thinking might rub off on them.